Year in Review — Motivated to make a difference: JC Chavez is Shelter Island’s Firefighter of the Year

From now until New year’s Day, we’ll reprise some of the most important stories we presented in 2023.

His pager vibrated and buzzed a bit before 8 p.m. that Saturday night in April 2022. Jose C. Chavez, known by everyone as JC, was working late at one of his part-time landscaping jobs near The Island Boatyard. He took a quick look at the pager’s screen: “Possible chimney fire in Heights.”

Within minutes, the 31-year-old Shelter Island Fire Department volunteer — who was recently named Firefighter of the Year for 2023 — was at the Center Firehouse on that cool, windy, early spring evening. “I got into my gear and we got into the truck,” he said.

The firefighters arrived at a house on Chase Avenue within minutes from the time the emergency was called in. Flames and smoke were rushing from the house’s chimney, and everyone who responded knew that not only was the house in peril of burning, but if it wasn’t stopped, the whole neighbor could be in trouble.

Mr. Chavez is an “interior” firefighter, meaning, “We’re the ones who go in,”  he said, “and we were ready.”

Chief Anthony Reiter and other veterans of the department could tell from experience that the fire was caused by creosote building up in the chimney from not being cleaned out on a regular basis. Creosote is a kind of tar that collects on chimney walls from a fireplace burning wood, and can become extremely flammable.

To combat a chimney fire, firefighters use a device run down along the walls of the chimney to break it up and remove it.

But there was a real problem. Wires overhead would prevent a “basket” from a loader firetruck carrying a firefighter to get anywhere near the chimney. “We’d have to get up on the roof,” Mr. Chavez remembered.

He also remembered the adrenaline flooding his system from the time he got the pager notice. “We’re trained that this is a normal reaction,” he said. “You need to learn to calm down when it kicks in and use that adrenaline in the right way.”

Rob Schack, P.J. Lechmanski and Mr. Chavez were designated to go up on the steeply pitched roof to the top of the house, and work the device down through the chimney to break up the smoldering tar and bring it out.

With his colleagues in support, Mr. Chavez made his way to the top of the roof, stood by the chimney and completed the dangerous task of bringing the fire under control.

Chief Reiter later said, “We took out five, 5-gallon buckets of creosote,” adding that it took a long time to get the fire under control.

Mr. Chavez has been involved in several other serious emergencies in his five years with the department. Recently, he took a break from his job as equipment manager at Gardiner’s Bay Country Club to talk about his career as a firefighter, and what it has meant to him.

He grew up in Sag Harbor and worked at the Noyac Golf Club, starting when he was 19, and was mentored by J.R. Wilson. “We spent a lot of time together,” Mr. Chavez said. Mr. Wilson was a member of the Sag Harbor Fire Department — he’s now an assistant chief — and was an inspiration to Mr. Chavez to join the Shelter Island Department when he moved to the Island for the Gardiner’s Bay job.

Fire Chief Dan Rasmussen said Mr. Chavez is a worthy recipient of Firefighter of the Year. “JC always goes above and beyond the call of duty,” the chief said. “If you need anything, he’s there.”

Chief Reiter echoed that praise, noting that Mr. Chavez is “a great asset, very motivated, has a great outlook, and the guys look to him for guidance. The department needs more volunteers like JC.”

Part of the job he enjoys most is working with younger volunteers. After an emergency, he likes the process of asking, “What did we learn? What did we do right? What did we do wrong? How can we improve?”

He’s proud to be a member of the department, and proud of his fellow volunteers. “We’re a family,” he said, and was quick to add that, like all families, there are tensions and problems. “But when we have to come together, we forget all issues and problems so we can get the job done. That’s what we signed up for: to get the job done.”

Asked for his motivation to become a firefighter, Mr. Chavez didn’t hesitate to answer. “There were moments in my life when I wished someone would give me a hand, when I wanted someone there for me. So now, if I see someone who needs something, I always say, ‘How can I help?’ It’s so rewarding to know you’ve helped someone that day. That you made a difference.”